10 Most Terrifying Moments From HBO's Chernobyl

The Firemen are the first to respond to the scene, as we see them battling the deadly blaze in the first episode of the series. Fires can be terrifying at the best of times, but with Chernobyl’s visceral direction and the added threat of nuclear fallout, this feels so much scarier.

This fire is insurmountable, with the firemen barely able to make the tiniest of differences to it. We know that every moment they spend there makes their death more likely, their last days more painful, and we’re torn between wishing them success and hoping they’ll surrender and get out while they can.

There is manic chaos to the whole series, but the opening episode in particular, without Legasov steadying the ship, encapsulates this mood more than ever. We later see the firemen being carried into hospitals on stretchers, their skin red and puffy from exposure.

We return to them later in the series, once the effects have well and truly set in, but in the frenzied opening exchanges, we’re gripped to our screens.

Chernobyl does an excellent job of telling the story around the central disaster, and the firemen certainly make up a crucial part of that.